The morning following our self-guided
Sound of Music and Salzburg tours, we geared up for a full day to explore the Salzkammergut, a district where everything looks like it belongs on a postcard. The first town on our itinerary, Mondsee, was coincidentally the location of the last
Sound of Music attraction on our list. The town is home to Kloster Mondsee, the (non-fictional) location where Maria and Georg von Trapp exchanged wedding vows. With the conclusion of the self-guided tour, only one question remained; is it possible to listen to the
Sound of Music soundtrack too much?
The answer. Yes. Absolutely.
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| Mondsee Abbey |
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| The end of our Sound of Music tour |
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| Baptism in progress |
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Fortunately, the best way to get a song(s) out of your head is with the picturesque sensory overload of the Salzkammergut. The village of Mondsee overlooks a beautiful lake of the same name and we were determined to get on the water. Being quite large, paddle boats would require physical labor which is a deterrent in and of itself. While we walked around the lake, we spotted a dock where visitors rented boats. No boating license was required, and once we boarded, it was apparent why. Our water chariot had two speeds, slow and slower.
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| Mondsee |
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| Looks like we are the only people there |
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| Downtown Mondsee |
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Oddly, we topped out at a speed nearly equivalent to the labors of those in a paddle boat. Although, we had more space, a canopy that kept us in the comforts of the shade, and our craft required no physical exertion. After we putt-putted around for an hour, our day's plans had been thrown askew. We returned to dry land and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the next stop, Hallstatt.
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| Who let Julie take control of the helm? |
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| Phew, nothing in sight she can hit |
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| Apparently a floatplane landing area over there |
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| Drachenwand |
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Once we got back to the road, the scenic stimuli almost demanded we stop and take pictures every ten minutes. We were taken aback twenty minutes into our drive as the road paralleled Attersee, another serene mountain and lake backdrop. The beauty of the Salzkammergut easily captivated, and with all our stops, we nearly doubled the time it was supposed to take to reach Hallstatt.
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| View from the road |
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| Pulled over for a better view of Attersee |
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With our day tenuously planned, the added boat ride in Mondsee and the prolonged journey to Hallstatt unfortunately had us miss the last funicular to Salz Welten. While we were disappointed to have missed out on a visit to the salt mine and panoramic viewing point, we were still content to walk around. After all, the town is a staple in nearly all traveling brochures and guide books. Although, the pedestrian area is continuously flooded by the cyclical influx of tourists - which made it difficult for the locals and small groups to circumvent the oblivious hordes. To concluded our visit, we grabbed some libations in the Marktplatz before we returned to the road.
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| Hallstatt |
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| Hallstätter See |
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| Panoramic view of Hallstatt from highway pull-off |
It was time to start making our way back to Salzburg, but there was one more lake to see, Wolfgangsee. With a few stops along the way, we arrived in Sankt Gilgen after an hour car ride. Our poor timing struck once more. The tenuously scheduled day planned for a ferry ride to and from Sankt Wolfgang. However, yet again, we arrived a few minutes too late and could see the last ferry only a hundred meters away as it left the dock.
Then it rained on our parade, literally.
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| Here comes the rain |
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| Wolfgangsee |
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| Sankt Wolfgang |
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We scurried under the roof of the closest watering hole and discussed how we were going to stay dry and forage dinner. Having missed the last ferry, we decided to take the terrestrial approach - and drove to Sankt Wolfgang after a brief tour of Sankt Gilgen. By the time we reached the other side of Wolfgangsee, we had just enough energy to take pictures before the culinary perfume of the local restaurants beckoned. We were seated at a table outside, but conveniently located under cover as the rain continued to come down. The hours of our Austrian adventure waned, but we were pleased with all we accomplished in a weekend.
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| Tschüß Salzkammergut |
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